Kick Counts

Follow Rebecca's Journey as she blogs the journey of the latest addition to the Baumgardner family. This week's post is from Neil Baumgardner (aka Daddy).

All About Kick Counts, Loving Friends and the One Yet to Come
As I tied Rebecca’s shoes, we were talking about “The one yet to come” and realized that this week (week 34) was when our two-year-old Rafe came into our lives sooner than we had planned. This time, we are a bit more prepared and have our bags packed for an early arrival, but just the thought of meeting our newest member of the family this week is a little mind blowing.

This whole experience has been amazing; from the surprise of being pregnant to the latest ultrasounds and weekly stress tests. The sympathy weight I have gained however (which has outpaced Rebecca’s) has not been as well received. Aside from the profound blessing that we have before us, we are getting to the end point of the journey and we are sure looking forward to getting back to normal life, normal weight, and yes, dare I say it: less than normal sleep.

Something that we learned this time around is kick counts. I’m pretty sure this test is to make mom nap. The idea is for Rebecca to lay on her side and wait for the baby to kick 10 times and record how long it takes. If it takes longer than an hour then it is imperative that we call the doctor. It is quite funny though because as tired as she gets now, I am thinking “Hmm, laying down and counting… Can anyone say counting kicking sheep?” Ok, seriously, this is a necessary test to make sure the baby is okay and is still doing well in the womb—the nap is just a bonus!

Our weekly appointments have begun a bit sooner than usual in the pregnancy, however, the stress tests will help us to monitor this little guy more closely and we couldn’t be happier. We have such a great team of people taking care of us at Big Sky OBGYN. We are incredibly thankful for Dr. Malloy and his staff. Another ultrasound is around the corner too, which will allow us to see how our boy and Rebecca are doing. Rebecca is feeling the aches, pains and uncomfortable signs of an impending labor not too far away. As much as she would like to say good bye to the heartburn, bloating, problems sleeping and the anxiety of going into preterm labor or even the tragedy of something worse, she prays that she and baby will be able to go the distance and reach the due date. For the most part however, we are comforted by the fact that we are in the home stretch.

Knowing that any day could be the big day, you would think that we have everything all ready to go right? Ok, we have the bags packed for the hospital, but many things still need to happen; such as rearranging rooms, setting up the crib and changing table, washing baby clothes, filling drawers, cleaning and more cleaning. Yes, we should probably think about buying some diapers too. Nonetheless, everything that has to happen will happen—even finding the perfect name for this little boy. This past weekend, Rebecca’s friends threw her a surprise baby shower (I thought she was going to kill me for keeping it from her!) We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives. Those women have definitely made sure that this little guy will not go without a thing. We were also blessed with a bunch of baby clothes from a wonderful woman named Kori Keller who we have never met and yet feel so loved and connected.

As the days draw near, we find ourselves daydreaming about who this little person is going to be, what he will look like and how complete our family will be. In a very short 6 weeks, we will finally get to meet “The one yet to come” and we couldn’t be more elated.